The US launched a drone strike in the Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan today, killing 12 “militants,” including a local Taliban commander. The strike is the first in Pakistan in more than two weeks.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more advanced Reapers fired eight missiles at a compound in the village of Dre Nishtar in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan, according to Dawn. Pakistani officials said 12 “militants” were killed in the strike, according to Reuters. A Taliban commander loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadar is reported to be among the dead.

No senior al Qaeda or allied jihadist commanders from foreign terrorist groups are reported to have been killed in the strike.

Recent strikes target the Shawal Valley

So far this year, five of the 27 drone strikes in Pakistan have hit targets in the Shawal Valley. Three of the last four strikes have taken place in the Shawal Valley. The last strike in Shawal, on July 1, is said to have killed several members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in Pakistan, China, and Central Asia.

Al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Taliban fighters under the command of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the leader of the Taliban in North Waziristan, are all known to operate in the Shawal Valley, which is near the Afghan border. The area is used to launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan.

Bahadar administers the Shawal Valley. In 2009, after the Pakistani military launched an offensive in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, Bahadar sheltered the families of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the group’s leader in South Waziristan [see LWJ report, Taliban escape South Waziristan operation].

Bahadar, Hakeemullah, South Waziristan Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani Network, are members of the Shura-e-Murakeba, an alliance formed in late 2011. The four commanders agreed to cease attacks against Pakistani security forces, refocus efforts against the US and NATO in Afghanistan, and end kidnappings and other criminal activities in the tribal areas.

The deal was brokered by senior al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi as well as by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational leader of the Haqqani Network, and Mullah Mansour, a senior Taliban leader who operates in eastern Afghanistan. An al Qaeda leader known as Abdur Rehman Al Saudi was also involved in the negotiations. Mullah Omar, the overall leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is said to have dispatched Siraj and Mansour to help negotiate the agreement [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda brokers new anti-US Taliban alliance in Pakistan and Afghanistan].

Background on the US strikes in Pakistan

The US has struck targets inside Pakistan’s tribal areas three times this month. All three strikes took place in North Waziristan. Today’s strike ends a 16-day hiatus; the last attack took place on July 6, when the drones hit a compound in the al Qaeda haven of Datta Khel.

Today’s strike is the sixth in Pakistan since June 4, when the US killed Abu Yahya al Libi, one of al Qaeda’s top leaders, propagandists, and religious figures. Abu Yahya was killed in a strike on a compound in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, another al Qaeda haven. Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkmen fighters belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were reportedly among the 14 terrorists killed along with Abu Yahya.

The drone program was scaled back dramatically from the end of March to the beginning of the fourth week in May. Between March 30 and May 22, the US conducted only three drones strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas as US officials attempted to renegotiate the reopening of NATO’s supply lines, which were closed from the end of November 2011 until July 3. Pakistan closed the supply lines following the Mohmand incident in November 2011, in which US troops killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistani soldiers were killed after they opened fire on US troops operating across the border in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

In addition to Abu Yahya, two other high-value targets have been killed in the strikes this year. A Jan. 11 strike in Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan, killed Aslam Awan, a deputy to the leader of al Qaeda’s external operations network.

The program has been scaled down from its peak in 2010, when the US conducted 117 strikes, according to data collected by The Long War Journal. In 2011, the US carried out just 64 strikes in Pakistan’s border regions.

So far this year, the US has launched two more strikes in Pakistan (27) against al Qaeda and allied terror groups than it has in Yemen (25) against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In 2011, however, the US launched only 10 airstrikes in Yemen, versus 64 in Pakistan.

Vienna,July 24,2012
I do understand the tactical variability of the unacknowledged
drone war. I see its success being acknowledged + recorded by the reluctant Pakistani operations in the region in response. In my view the CIA Chief is indeed a professional soldier of the top grade.He has succeeded persuading Pakistani Corps commanders hold their conference underground without releasing the photos of the grand conferences.There are no more Pak army boasts. But the Pak armed forces do tickle the so called Supreme Court from behind to order the government issue orders to the Swiss Court to reopen case against their own President! The Pak Supreme Court itself is led by some one who is the direct beneficiary of the “Supreme” Corrupt Defense Housing Authority, DHA. That is for the linkage.The world should
see the Af+Pak developments as a whole not in isolation for perspective.
Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring TTTMM India
–Kulamarva Balakrishna